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‘Trust our teachers’: Matt Damon urges ‘Yes’ vote on Question 2
Matt Damon recorded a video urging Massachusetts residents to vote Yes on Question 2, which would no longer require students to pass the MCAS in order to graduate high school.
Still trying to figure out how you’ll vote on the five statewide ballot questions on November 5? Matt Damon has some opinions he’d like to share with you.
In a video released Wednesday afternoon, Damon asked Massachusetts residents to vote Yes on Question 2, the upcoming ballot initiative seeking to remove the MCAS as a statewide graduation requirement.
“We need to trust our teachers, not some one-size-fits-all test,” Damon said in the video, posted by the Yes On Question 2 campaign. “Our teachers use multiple forms of assessment to determine whether or not a student deserves a diploma or not. So let’s put the power back in their hands to make that determination.”
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Damon also spoke about his belief that the MCAS forces educators into “teaching to the test” instead of focusing on “very important skills like critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, [and] things like the arts.”
What a Yes on Question 2 means
In the same video, Damon also addressed “misinformation” about Question 2, and what it would mean for standardized testing in Massachusetts.
If Question 2 passes, students will still take the MCAS as sophomores, and be required to take the test again if they fail. But it will no longer be a requirement for receiving a diploma, which will instead be contingent on a student’s grades, attendance, and other graduation standards set by a school district.
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“It would not eliminate the MCAS,” Damon said. “We’d keep the MCAS and use it for what it is intended for, which is a diagnostic tool for teachers to support their students to understand where they need support.”
LATEST QUESTION 2 NEWS
Matt Damon vs. Michael Bloomberg
Damon’s video, posted by the Yes On 2 coalition on social media, arrived shortly after the No on 2 campaign reported its single-largest donation to date: A $2.5 million pledge from Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman, former mayor of New York City, and onetime presidential hopeful.
Prior to Bloomberg’s donation, campaign finance records showed that the majority of large donations to the No on 2 campaign came from Massachusetts business leaders, including executives at New Balance, Bain Capital, Charles River Ventures, and Berkshire Partners.
Support for the Yes on 2 campaign, meanwhile, has largely come from the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
Politicians are divided on whether Question 2 should pass or fail: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley are among the elected officials who support the Yes on 2 campaign, while Gov. Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler are in the No on 2 camp.
Matt Damon’s history of supporting teachers (and his mom)
Damon frequently discusses being raised by a teacher in interviews, and has spoken out in support of teachers numerous times. Damon’s mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, is a Professor Emerita in early childhood education at Lesley University in Cambridge.
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In 2011, Damon flew from Vancouver to give a speech at the Save Our Schools rally in Washington D.C., a grassroots demonstration protesting changes in educational policy (including standardized testing requirements).
After being introduced by his mother, Damon spoke glowingly of his 13 years in public schools, saying he “wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.”
“My teachers were empowered to teach me,” Damon said. “Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep, this silly ‘drill and kill’ nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle.
“They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us,” Damon continued. “They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.”
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